Northridge sputters, Roosevelt pounds way to 2-0 start

It didn’t take one to figure out what was wrong with Fulton’s Northridge football team.

Consider the following:

» The Grizzlies had just 14 rushing yards and 78 of total offense.

» Their only touchdown came via a 47-yard interception return by Stephon Cunningham.

» Their first down total struggled to reach 7.

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» The Grizzlies punted seven times with punter with Zach Baxter finishing as their best weapon.

Yep, it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that the Grizzlies had little, if any, offense in a 28-7 Class 3A loss to Roosevelt at District 6 Stadium.

“I’m honestly not sure what’s wrong with the offense,” Fulton said. “We didn’t run, we didn’t pass, didn’t move the chains and I don’t think we played very physical.”

The loss drops the Grizzlies to 0-2 while Roosevelt improved to 2-0.

On the bright side, Fulton explained his squad’s first five games are against contenders, but none is against division foes.

It hardly eased the pain of the Grizzlies’ second straight poor performance – they recorded just three first downs in a 21-7 loss to Green Mountain last week – falling behind 21-0 to the Rough Riders by halftime when their offensive output was a paltry 6 yards.

Roosevelt, which is executing a triple-option offense, wasted little time in establishing momentum when it marched 72 yards on just eight plays on its second possession with quarterback Brandyn Hernandez (12 carries, 101 yards) going the final 11 yards untouched for the score.

“I don’t think we switched back to cutting to the inside soon enough, but it’s not a big deal.”

Hernandez explained how once he broke the line of scrimmage, he felt like he was on easy street.

“Our offensive line made it easy for us to run into their secondary, and from there it seemed easy,” Hernandez said. “I think we hit a pretty good rhythm by getting to the corner.”

The Rough Riders defense didn’t allow Northridge to cross midfield before going up 13-0 as tailback Christian Kratz (6.0-yard rushing average) ran 13 yards for a score, but it was one of just three completions – a 28-yarder from Hernandez to Kratz – that set up the score.

With just one minute, 53 seconds left in the half, the Rough Riders exhibited good clock management, going 45 yards on four plays with Kratz scoring from the 2 with only 41 seconds left in the half as they totaled an impressive 211 yards of offense.

“I thought we actually started a little slow, but when we found how easy it was to get outside, we sort of got into a rhythm,” said Rough Rider running back Jason Lopez, who played in a key role in the Rough Riders moving the chains with 55 rushing yards on 10 carries. “Everybody was doing their assignments, especially the blocking up front.”

Fulton stressed at the half that a key turnover or a big offensive play was what the Grizzlies needed to jumpstart their effort, and when Cunningham picked Hernandez off and raced 47 yards down the near sideline for a score late in the third quarter, his theory looked to be true.

However, even though Roosevelt was called for holding, nullifying what would have been an 84-yard kickoff return for a score by Jordan Grado, the Rough Riders weren’t about to let the Grizzlies establish any momentun, playing smash-mouth football en route to a 6-yard touchdown run by Marcus Holguin.

“I thought the turnover would get us going, but obviously, it didn’t,” Fulton said. “Roosevelt’s good. Hernandez is the guy who picked off (former Grizzlies’ quarterback Colton) Taylor twice last year as a defender. That right there tells you what a good athlete he is.”

The Grizzlies came up with another interception – by Dario Puentes – but they stalled at midfield, and twice failed on fourth down in the second half.

“All night long, we just didn’t execute or were able to show what kind of team we are,” Fulton said. “If you can’t move the chains, move the ball on offense, you’re not going to win.”